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Go Tell It on the Mountain | Introduction

James Baldwin was one of the most versatile and influential artists of the post-World War II generation, creating memorable short stories, novels, plays, essays and children's books. Go Tell It on the Mountain was his first published novel, and many critics feel that it is has stood as his best. It is a traditional bildungsroman, a novel tracing the psychological and spiritual development of its central character, John Grimes.

In the first chapter, John's family life, ruled by anger, poverty and guilt, is explored, leading to the fifth chapter, when, after night's religious service, John is accepted into his church's community because he has undergone a seizure-like conversion, writhing on the floor and speaking in foreign tongues. The middle chapters give the background stories of his aunt, his father, and his mother, who migrated to New York from the South and endured various difficulties that are reflected in John's life.

There is a strong autobiographical aspect to the novel, as many of the details in John's life mirror those in Baldwin's life, including his impoverished upbringing in Harlem, his angry vitriolic father, his fascination with an older male church member and his religious conversion at age fourteen. Explaining how writing his first novel helped him come to terms with the troubled he faced growing up, Baldwin said, "Mountain was the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else."

Go Tell It on the Mountain Summary

James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain chronicles the experiences of its young narrator, John Grimes, in Harlem in 1935. The novel opens on the moming of John's fourteenth birthday and centers on the events that lead up to his spiritual conversion later that evening. The narrative also provides a history of his family, of his stepfather Gabriel, a preacher in Temple of the Fire Baptized; of his aunt Florence, Gabriel's sister; and of his mother Elizabeth. All of these stories add poignancy and context to John's efforts to come to terms with his present and his future.

On that morning as he is lying in bed, John thinks about his family's expectations that he will follow in his father's footsteps into "the holy life" but wonders if that is the path he wants for himself. His lack of devotion to the church angers his father. John remembers one Sunday morning when Father James, another preacher in the church, warns Elisha and Ella Mae, two young church members, that "disorderly walking" together could lead to them "straying from the truth." This public warning shames them and so they stop meeting.... » Complete Go Tell It on the Mountain Summary

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1. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Introduction
2. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Summary
   1. Part I Summary
   2. Part II Summary
   3. Part III Summary
3. Go Tell It on the Mountain: James Baldwin Biography
4. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Characters
5. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Themes
6. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Style
7. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Historical Context
8. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Critical Overview
9. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Essays and Criticism
   1. The Variety of Narrative Voices in Go Tell It on the Mountain
   2. Race and Art James Baldwin
   3. A review of Go Tell It on the Mountain
   4. The Ironic Voice in Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain
10. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Compare and Contrast
11. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Topics for Further Study
12. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Media Adaptations
13. Go Tell It on the Mountain: What Do I Read Next?
14. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Bibliography and Further Reading
15. Go Tell It on the Mountain: Pictures
16. Copyright

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1. James Baldwin

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